. >> reporter: literally snapping his fingers, vice president joe biden today suggested it will be easy to finish a deal with congress to avoid the fiscal cliff. >> it would take 15 minutes from the time the decision is made by the speaker of the house to pass and make permanent middle class tax cut. the president would probably have me sprint up to the hill to bring the bill down for him to sign. it can be done like that. it is not complicated. >> greg: speaker bane -- >> reporter: speaker john boehner not so optimistic. >> this is not a progress report, there is no progression to report. report. >> reporter: he blasted for not offering a counterproposal to his plan and they seemed more than ever going to stop the tax increase. economy shrugged off hurricane sandy to create 146,000 new jobs, nearly double what forecasters had said, job creation for september and october was revised downward by a total of 49,000. another 350,000 people were so discouraged in november they simply stopped looking for work and left the labor force, which is why the unemployment rate dipped to 7.7%. >> rais